Obama Catastrophe With Congress Looms as Investors Show No Alarm

Official White House/Pete Souza

When partisan gridlock last brought the government to the brink of default in August 2011, the stock market fell and Standard & Poor’s cut the nation’s credit rating. After House Speaker John Boehner, an Ohio Republican, withdrew from negotiations on July 22, 2011, the S&P 500 Stock Index fell more than 16 percent in the next 11 trading days.